Dog-euthanization method draws howls of protesters

Wednesday

Aug 8, 2012 at 12:01 AMAug 8, 2012 at 9:38 AM

LANCASTER, Ohio - The signs carried by protesters yesterday read, "Honk to Ban Gas Chambers." Plenty of motorists did. The blaring of car horns and the massing of activists along the sidewalks outside the Fairfield County government building, some with dogs, made for a lively rally that raised a serious question: How should Fairfield County euthanize dogs at its county shelter?

Plenty of motorists did. The blaring of car horns and the massing of activists along the sidewalks outside the Fairfield County government building, some with dogs, made for a lively rally that raised a serious question: How should Fairfield County euthanize dogs at its county shelter?

The county board of commissioners postponed a decision on whether to change the euthanasia method at the dog shelter from carbon-monoxide gas to lethal injection to give two members more time to study the issue.

Animal-welfare advocates are pressing the county commissioners, all Republicans, to euthanize by injection. They say that it is more humane.

The campaign to euthanize by injection in Fairfield County has continued intermittently in the 12 years since the dog shelter opened. It resumed with vigor earlier this year after the Athens County commissioners voted to abolish gas for euthanization at their shelter.

Additionally, a change in state law removed pit bulls from automatically being considered vicious dogs, and recently the Fairfield County shelter began allowing rescue groups to adopt the dogs. This has meant more are being adopted that otherwise would have been euthanized.

About 100 people packed the commissioners’ hearing room yesterday to deliver their views to the elected leaders of this county of about 147,000 residents.

Commissioner Steve Davis, the current president, said that he favors changing the policy to euthanasia by injection. He initially planned to seek a vote yesterday.

Commissioners Mike Kiger and Judy Shupe, however, said they wanted more time, likely two more weeks, to study the cost and other factors before making up their minds.

Fairfield County is among about 10 of the state’s 88 counties that use gas to euthanize county-shelter dogs, according to the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Ohio County Dog Wardens Association.

Fairfield County Dog Warden Mike Miller has said he euthanizes four to six individually caged dogs at a time with carbon monoxide because it is cheaper than injection and avoids the liability of someone getting hurt. The dog carcasses are then burned in the crematory located next to the gas chamber.

Other county dog wardens, however, have said that lethal injection costs about the same.

Bloom Township resident Reed Bailey, the Democrat running against Davis in November, called the gas chamber “a disgrace” that is destroying the county’s good name.

Bremen resident Shannon Miller told the commissioners that even Death Row inmates in Ohio are executed more humanely.